Riveting machine with multiple rivet transfer



Nov. 2 6, 1957 c.

RIVETING MACHINE vw rr I as k---- 0: '11:: 42 Q44 24 36 24 I4 v 28 -34 52 M. BUCK HMULT'IPLE RIVET TRANSFER Filed July 21, 1951 IN VENTOR CL-ARENCE M- BUCK ATTORNEY United States atent MACHINE WITH MULTIPLE RIVET TRANSFER 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-1) This invention relates to riveting machines in which rivets are delivered from a supply source to an anvil structure for operation upon by a set to upset the rivets in the securing thereof in position upon work pieces held in the'machine. In particular, the invention relates to riveting machines incorporating a hopper for holding a supply of rivets and an inclined chute down which the rivets are delivered from the hopper in tandem formation and positioned against a slide structure which functions to feed the rivets into position for the upsetting operation.

Machines of the above character are known in which selector mechanism is employed to operate at the bottom of the inclined rivet supply chute to select individual rivets from the bottom of the line of rivets in the chute so that the selected rivets can be delivered for upsetting. In connection with the known machines, generally, it has been the practice to select only one rivet at a time from the bottom of the line and to rely upon a pushing back of the remainder of the line of rivets in the feeding of the selected bottom rivet to the upsetting position.

It has been a requirement for some time now, in the riveting machine art, that a machine should be devised which is not only capable of selecting and feeding a number of rivets at a time, for upsetting, but that the selecting and feeding operation should be capable of being carried out upon relatively soft rivets, of aluminum, for example, which are liable to premature deformation or damage if allowed to be pushed back in the line formation previously mentioned. In practice, it has been found that the feeding of aluminum rivets by the conventional machines employed to handle relatively hard or steel rivets is not suited to the handling of these relatively soft rivets and that, further, these machines are incapable of use to transfer a plurality of rivets from the bottom of. the supply chute to the anvil and set location. On the other hand, there is a demand for a riveting machine which will not only enable a multiple rivet transfer to take place but which will also enable aluminum rivets to be handled without fear of premature damage in transfer from the supply line.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide av riveting machine which is capable of transferring a plurality of rivets at a time from the supply line to the upsetting location.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a riveting machine which is able to select rivets from the supply line and hold back the remainder of the line by a positive stop action.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a riveting machine having a selector mechanism which operates intermediate the ends of the inclined rivet supply chute to alternatively hold back the line of rivets and select a predetermined number of the rivets from the bottom of the line for release to fall down the remainder of the chute to position for transfer to the upsetting location,

Further objects and advantages of the invention, residing in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, will appear clear from consideration of the followingdescription of one practical form of the in- 2,814,393 Patented Nov. 26, 1957 vention, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. I is a broken-away vertical section of a riveting machine in accordance with the invention, showing the bottom portion of the inclined rivet supply chute and the associated transfer slide, rearwardly positioned to commence a rivet transfer movement,

Fig. II is a similar view to Fig. I with the transfer slide shown in the advanced position, in which the rivets are located for upsetting,

Fig. III is a vertical section on the line A-A of Fig. I,

Fig. IV is a fragmentary plan view looking upon the bottom end of the rivet supply chute and the associated transfer slide shown in retracted position, and

Fig. V is a fragmentary elevation of the upper portion of the rivet supply chute with its associated oscillatory selector device, by which the line of rivets is positively held back in the chute and which is actuatable to select a number of the rivets (three, in this instance) for release from the line to fall down the chute to the transfer slide while the remainder of the line is still positively held back in the chute.

Referring to the drawings, the machine table 10 has a multiple anvil head 12 at its forward end for accommodating the heads 14 of a plurality of rivets, fed to the anvil head by a slide structure 18 which includes an elongated plate 20 reciprocable upon the machine table to transfer the rivets from the bottom of the inclined rivet supply chute 22 to the anvil head while supported upon the slide with their shanks 24 facing upward, as shown.

The slide structure is reciprocated by the rod 26 operating in a cylinder 28 by any suitable power source, but normally pneumatically from a pneumatic circuit embodied in the machine to effect the various operations thereof, under the control of a foot pedal (not shown) in accordance with a predetermined cycle, common to riveting machines of the type to which this invention relates and which will be understood by those skilled in this particular art. The actual operating circuit employed forms no part of the present invention, excepting for its modification to include provision for the sequentially timed actuation of a combination rivet selector and stop device, indicated generally at 30 in Fig. V and later described in essential detail.

The rivets are fed from an overhead hopper (not shown) to the inclined chute 22, which chute, at its lower end, has a portion 22' which turns horizontally onto the machine table, from one side thereof, and is secured upon the table surface (as by screws 25, Fig. IV) in position for the slide plate 20 to reciprocate above the chute portion 22 in sliding relation thereto, such that the forward end of the slide can engage the projecting rivet shanks 24' and transfer the rivets bodily along trackway 26.

The particular machine illustrated in the drawings is designed to select and transfer three rivets at a time but it is to be understood that the invention is not so limited but can be designed to handle any number of rivets at a time qua selection and transfer, including one rivet, if desired.

To provide for the transfer of the rivets from the chute to the transfer slide 20, the bottom chute portion 22' is formed with a gate opening 28 which permits three rivets, positioned with their heads 14 in overlapped relationship as seen in Fig. III, to be moved laterally out of the bottom of the chute by engagement of the rivet shanks 24 in recesses formed in the forward edge of the slide plate 20. These recesses are clearly seen in Fig. II and consist of a central recess 31 forwardly situated with respect to two side recesses 32 of similar depth but deeper than the central recess 31. In the forward movement of the .slide plate'. 20 over the top of the chute portion 21' the central rivet in the gate opening will be engaged first at the back of the recess 31, followed by the engagement of the other two rivets at the back of their respective recesses 32. When so engaged, the three rivets will be shifted up the trackway 26 with the central rivetbeing moved ahead of the rivet on each side thereof and engaged in the recesses 32. This provides for the positioning of the three rivets for upsetting by the set with the rivets located at the corners of an isosceles triangle.

The gate opening 28 is normally closed by finger members, 34, provided one for each rivet in the gate opening, and indicated at 36 in Figs. I and II. These finger members are disposed in adjacent relationship to depend into the path of movement of the upstanding rivet shanks 24' and moved by the rivet shanks 24 when these are located at the inner ends of their recesses 31 and 32 and are thus ready to be pushed positively forward by the continued movement of the slide plate 20. The finger members are pivoted at 38 and have rearward extensions 40 normally held up against stop means 42 by the action of springs 44, which serve to restore the finger members to their depending positions with respect to the gate opening after passage of each set of rivets transferred by the slide plate 20.

The trackway 26 is shown in Figs. I and II as being inclined upwardly from the bottom guide portion 22' up to the anvil structure 12. This positions the rivet shanks for their introduction into their receiving holes in the work piece to which the rivets are to be secured. This work piece is exemplified in the drawings as a saucepan body 46 and handle 48 which is secured to the body by the three advanced rivets, the handle being held located on the machine against the roller stop 50 or by any other suitable means.

The slide block 18 is arranged, at the end of its forward travel to hit against the lower end of a lever 52 pivoted at 54 and connected by linkage (part of which is indicated at 56) with the clutch and main machine drive shaft (not shown) so as to connect this lever 52 to be positively shifted from its dotted position, as seen in Fig. I, back to its full line position as seen in that figure and thereby positively withdraw the slide plate 20 from beneath the saucepan handle 48 prior to the riveting operation. This actuation of the lever 52 is timed in the sequence of operation of the machine in a manner which will be understood by those skilled in the art and introduces a safety feature to prevent the possibility of the slide becoming riveted to the workpiece (saucepan) in case the penurnatic system should fail to effect the required withdrawal of the slide plate 20.

The selector mechanism 30 is seen in Fig. V and comprises a circular plate 58 mounted to oscillate adjacent the front of the chute 22 and having an arcuate flange 60, substantially semi-circular in shape, arranged to rotate within the actual chute passage in the path of the rivets therein. The plate 58 has a cut-away portion 62 in its periphery presenting a ledge 64 with which an actuator finger 66 normally engages to hold the plate arrested in position, against the action of the loaded coil spring 68, in which the bottom end of the arcuate flange is located within the chute beneath the bottom rivet therein and forms a positive stop to hold back the whole line of rivets. In this position, in which the plate tends to be rotated anti-clockwise, as viewed in Fig. V, the upper end of the flange 60 lies just to one side of the line of rivets in line between the shanks of the third and fourth rivets from the bottom of the line. If now, the finger 66, pivoted at 70, is tripped to the dotted position but still located in the path of the ledge 64, the plate 58 will be released to swing sharply to the left by the action of its spring 68. This will cause the bottom end of the flange 60 to be removed from the bottom rivet in the 7 line and simultaneously therewith the top end of the flange will swing across the interior of the chute between the shanks of the said third and fourth rivets so as thereby to release the bottom three rivets to fall down the chute to the horizontal chute portion 22' and form a positive stop holding back the line of rivets now brought to rest against the thus projected top end of the flange 60, such projected end being shown dotted at 60 in Fig. V. Upon release of the trip finger 66 the reverse action will take place so that the line of rivets in the chute is alternately held back positively by the bottom and top ends of the flange 60, with three rivets being selected from the line for falling by gravity down the chute with each successive oscillatory motion of the plate 58.

This actuation of the rotary selector plate 58 will be arranged to take place in the proper timed sequence with the remainder of the machine operations and can be effected in a number of ways. In Fig. V there is shown a limit switch device, comprising a trigger part 72 arranged in the path of a collar 74 which is depressed to trip the finger 66 to the dotted position by this collar exerting pressure against a collar 76 on a cable 78 connected at 80 with the finger 66 and incorporating a re storing spring 82 for the finger and collar assembly 66 and 76, respectively.

The gravitational falling of the selected rivets from a height gives the impetus necessary to carry these rivets along the horizontal chute portion 22' to the gate opening 28 or at least to position where an air blast can be employed to direct the selected rivets into the desired position with respect to the gate opening.

I claim:

Means for feeding upsettable members to a set, comprising in combination frame structure providing a supporting surface for a horizontally reciprocable transfer slide, a gravity feed chute for said members mounted on said frame structure to extend upwardly from one side of said surface, said chute having an opening extending lengthwise of one wall thereof through which portions of said members project, said chute having a lower portion extending horizontally above said supporting surface from said one side, a transfer slide, means mounting said transfer slide for reciprocation on said supporting surface over the portion of the said wall of the horizontal portion of said chute on the side of said opening farthest from said set, said slide having a leading edge portion having a plurality of spaced apart recesses therein engageable with individual said members to transfer said members simultaneously from said chute to said set, means for positioning a said member in the path of each said recess, the portion of the said wall of the horizontal portion of said chute on the side of said opening nearest said set terminating short of the path of said recesses, a trip finger vertically aligned above the path of each said recess, means mounting said fingers for individual pivotal movement in vertical planes about a common axis parallel to and spaced above said horizontal portion of said chute, detent means preventing movement of the lower ends of said fingers above said opening, and means resiliently urging said fingers into contact with said detent means, said lower ends of said fingers forming an extension of said portion of the said wall of the horizontal portion of said chute on the side of said opening nearest said set when said fingers contact said detent means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,095,194 Curtis May 5, 1914 1,387,055 Kaase Aug. 9, 1921 1,436,822 Puc Nov. 28, 1922 1,816,225 Kamphausen July 28, 1931 2,009,751 Stenman July 30, 1935 2,103,387 Salfisberg Dec. 28, 1937 2,341,014 Blair Feb. 8, 1944 2,350,486 Bailey June 6, 1944 2,398,659 Mead Apr. 16, 1946 2,406,516 Treciokas Aug. 27, 1946 2,564,139 Ward et al Aug. 14, 1951 

